Five Steps to Fixing Bad Apps

In other words, what are Citibank, American Airlines, Amazon, UPS, and Volvo doing to create engaging apps that bind the user to the company, build brand equity, and provide high exit barriers for customers (and equally high entry barriers for competitors)? Sure, those are huge corporations with vast resources, but in the world of app making, big money isn’t much of an asset. What puts those companies ahead is their effective use of both art and science in app development.

First, the teams behind winning apps tend to be composed of the organizations’ best techno-marketing talent, people with deep understanding of social media. Second, they take a few basic ingredients — brand, marketing, technology, and service — and combine them in just the right ways over the course of five stages. In each stage, they ask themselves what gaps need to be filled. Then they work hard to fill them.

Stage 1: Is there a recognition gap? An app should establish a strong association with its parent brand. That means the app’s name, color scheme, and logo should build on the parent’s. Take a look at how Citi and Bank of America reinforce their apps’ authenticity through the use of logo colors. At the same time, the apps reinforce the brands by giving users connectivity with other assets and services. Features such as Bank of America’s SafePass for especially sensitive transactions further strengthen the brands.

Stage 2: Is there a brand-personalization gap? Because an app’s appeal is related to its ability to solve users’ problems, development teams must constantly work to identify, understand, and prioritize customers’ challenges, which of course are in constant flux. Leaders in this space include American Airlines and American Express. AA’s app has an efficient user interface that expedites execution of key functions for the traveler, especially the frequent flyer. Each electronic boarding pass uses four QR codes, increasing the probability of a first-time hit by the scanner. There are features that allow users to visualize seat selections and assign names to flights, and the site incorporates a Sudoku game at the top-level menu to keep users amused, and bonded to the site, while they wait for data such as gate assignments.

Stage 3: Is there a data gap? In order to feel comfortable using an app, consumers have to trust that the data they’re getting is valid and correct and the interface is secure. Companies must present and explain a clear, consistent, uniform data-trust policy for encryption, logins, timeouts, and cloud resources across all customer-facing systems. Leaders in this space include Amazon, PayPal, and of course Apple. The leading companies not only utilize the best industry security practices, they are innovators, anticipating customer’s concerns rather than waiting for other companies to notice problems and offer solutions. Think of Amazon’s One Click payment system and PayPal’s forthcoming encrypted smart-phone card-reader attachment.

Stage 4: Is there a decision gap? Successful corporate apps such as American Airlines’ provide consumers with the ability to undertake the functions associated with a task, such as boarding a flight, in a manner that conforms with and even improves the processes customers associate with that function and the company providing it. American’s customers would be left in a state of confusion if, for example, the company started requiring record-locator codes for flights or didn’t allow seat selection until 24 hours before a flight, as is the case with Virgin Atlantic’s app. Misalignment between the in-person kiosk or counter experience and the app would generate uncertainty about the outcome at every decision point, with significant consequences. Customers would lose confidence that their decisions were being executed, ultimately leading to defections and negative word-of-mouth.

Stage 5: Is there a reinforcement gap? App loyalty is strongly related to repeated use, acceptance of new features, and a highly effective interaction. Brand reinforcement also comes from users’ recognition of the app as a valued and consistent extension of the parent brand. Leaders include Volvo, which developed a Volvo Sailing app for the UK market and a Volvo Ocean Race Game app to run parallel to the global Ocean Race. Apps of this type incrementally build loyalty and reinforce the brand.

Developing apps through this method is analogous to reducing a sauce — it intensifies the flavor, resulting in a richer customer experience and heightened satisfaction. If you try to create an app by simply having the marketing people hand off their specifications to the tech team, without going through the five-stage development process, you’ll end up with an app that’s bland, weak, and unappealing.